The Artistry
Videos, stills, and acclaim
The Artistry
No matter where you see Boulder Ballet, in the theater, on tour, in the classroom, even outdoors in the open spaces at the foot of the Rockies, you are transfixed.
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Boulder Ballet’s spectrum of dance is exceptionally broad, ranging from annual presentations of major classical ballet works like the Nutcracker and Giselle, extending to new choreographic works presenting one-of-a-kind creative and original contemporary ballet performances, and sustaining its Boulder Ballet School whose curriculum is especially comprehensive, professional, and widely respected.
From Boulder Ballet’s production of “Stepping Out”, February, 2018, at the Dairy ARTS Center in Boulder.
Everyone touched by the Boulder ballet ethos of passion, precision and perfection achieve not only technical proficiency but also the essential expressive quality of creativity in their dancing. Audiences feel it from beginning to end of every performance, whether on stage at Boulder’s Dairy ARTS Center, at the University of Colorado’s Macky Auditorium, in Longmont at the Vance Brand Civic Auditorium, or in the classroom with students and parents alike smiling from ear to ear. Boulder Ballet’s teaching approach is student centered, emphasizing acceptance without judgment and embracing the potential that every student is born with.
from Boulder Ballet’s performance of Giselle, photo by Katie Ging
To achieve these goals, Boulder Ballet emphasizes not only classical ballet technique but also modern dance, character dance, and original physical theater. Audiences and school students (and their parents!) all agree that Boulder Ballet succeeds where many others fall short: preparing dancers and students for the toughest artistic challenges that people inevitably will confront in their lives, whether as professional dancers, lawyers, educators, parents … you name it!
Former Boulder Ballet Artistic Director Peter Davison once said: “Everything we do grows out of community.” He was not just speaking of choreography and artistic vision; he was also speaking of the impact of sharing ideas, emotions, and stories through the art of ballet. Boulder Ballet’s roots are deep in the Colorado culture, with a lasting commitment to the Boulder community through education and outreach programs.
Excerpts from the Boulder Ballet Production of “An American In Paris”
The Artists
Strong, Creative, Committed Leadership
From its beginnings as a ballet school in the 1970’s and the creative vision of Barbara Demaree and Wanda Tierney, right up to today’s leadership team of Artistic Director Ana Claire and Associate Artistic Director Lance Hardin, Boulder Ballet has been offering classic, contemporary, and uniquely theatrical ballet to audiences non-stop for almost 40 years...
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Ana Claire-Photo by Sue Daniels
Ana Claire’s passion is legendary. Once the principal ballerina of Boulder Ballet, she has been producing, directing and choreographing for more than 20 years. The tone she sets for all the people she touches – dancers, company colleagues, and especially the children she and her dancers teach at the Boulder Ballet School – leave them wrapped in the beauty of ballet and motivated always to do their best.
For over 20 years, Ana has produced, directed, and choreographed an annual Storybook Ballet for the Boulder Ballet School, each with original music, scenery, and costumes created in collaboration with local artists. She has also choreographed all productions of Boulder Ballet’s Nutcracker since 2001. Ana originated Boulder Ballet’s acclaimed outreach program Steps in Time which has been performed at numerous schools throughout the Boulder/Denver area. She is a passionate teacher, dedicated to helping students achieve technical excellence while nurturing their individual artistry, and many of her students have gone on to professional careers in dance.
Lance Hardin-Photo by Sue Daniels
Lance Hardin brings an extraordinary portfolio of creativity and artistic commitment to Boulder Ballet. Having danced with major companies in the US and Japan, Lance has taught dance for the past 23 years. He holds numerous choreographic credits including The Denver Independent Choreographer’s Project, Springfield Ballet Company, Boulder Ballet and Fractured, a collaboration with his wife Amy Earnest for James Sewell Ballet.
Lance has performed principal roles by world renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine (Allegro Brilliante, Four Temperaments, Western Symphony, Who Cares), Paul Taylor (Esplanade, Company B), Dwight Rhoden (Verge), Nacho Duato (Jardi Tancat), William Forsythe (In the Middle Somewhat Elevated), Michael Pink (Romeo and Juliet), and Alonzo King (Map). He is enjoying many requests as guest artist, teacher, and choreographer.
Meet Boulder Ballet’s Dancers…
Kate Adams
Kate Adams is a Boulder native who began dancing at Boulder Ballet at the age of 3. In Colorado, she has had the chance to compete in the Denver Ballet Guild’s Young Dancers Competition where she received 2nd place in 2010 and 6th place in 2014. As she rose through the school, Kate also had opportunities to attend summer programs such as The Harid Conservatory, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Texas Ballet Theater. After graduating high school, she moved to Georgia to study with the Atlanta Ballet. In her two years with Atlanta, she was given the opportunity both years to perform in the snow and flower corps alongside the Atlanta Ballet company in John McFall’s The Nutcracker. Kate has since moved back to Boulder where she is excited to continue working with Boulder Ballet while pursuing a Health Sciences degree online through the University of South Dakota. Kate joined Boulder Ballet as an Apprentice in 2016 and became a member of the Company in 2018.
Kelsey Byrne
Kelsey Byrne is from Orange County, California, where she received her training at the Orange County High School of the Arts as a member of the Classical and Contemporary Dance Department. She also received training during summer intensives at the Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, and Alonzo King LINES. She graduated from Indiana University in 2015 as a ballet major in the Jacobs School of Music. At IU, she had the opportunity to perform a variety of Balanchine works, namely The Four Temperaments, Western Symphony, Emeralds, and Swan Lake, as well as classics such as La Bayadere and Michael Vernon’s adaptation of The Nutcracker. Kelsey joined Boulder Ballet in 2015.
Ryland Early
A native of Boulder, Ryland Early has danced for Ballet West, Ballet Arizona, Nevada Ballet Theater, and most recently Phoenix Ballet under the direction of Slawomir Wozniak. He has enjoyed performing the works of Stanton Welch, George Balanchine, Amy Seiwert, and Robert Dekkers throughout his career, as well as dancing classical roles such as Albrecht in Gisele, Von Rothbart in Swan Lake, and the Prince in Sleeping Beauty. Ryland joined Boulder Ballet in 2016.
Alexis Evans
Alexis Evans fell in love with ballet when she saw the Nutcracker at the age of two in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She enrolled in classes the following year with Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, and completed her training at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. She went on to dance with The Israel Ballet for three seasons before returning to the states to dance with The Sarasota Ballet.
Lexi also performed with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet before moving to Boulder at the end of 2015. Lexi joined Boulder Ballet as an Apprentice in 2016 and became a member of the Company in 2018.
Veronica Goldberg
Veronica Goldberg is from Buffalo, New York, where she received her training at The Neglia Conservatory of Ballet and Center Stage Dance Studio. Veronica continued her training at Point Park University, where she graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance as well as a minor in Psychology. There, she had the opportunity to perform in George Balanchine’s Serenade, Ben Stevenson’s End of Time, and Nicolas Petrov’s Romeo and Juliet as Juliet. After graduating, she went on to work with City Ballet of San Diego for two seasons under the direction of Steven and Betsey Wistrich. During her time in San Diego, Veronica had the opportunity to perform in Mozart’s Requiem, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, and George Balanchine’s Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, and Walpurgisnacht. Veronica joined Boulder Ballet in 2016.
Carly Hambridge
Carly Hambridge, originally from Charlotte, NC, joins for her first season. This past summer, she danced as an apprentice with Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance following the 2016-2017 season as an artist with BalletMet’s second company. Previously, she danced with Nevada Ballet Theatre as a trainee and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in the graduate program under scholarship. Carly graduated from Butler University in 2014 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Pedagogy with departmental honors. She attended summer intensive programs at Ballet West, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and the Rock School. Her favorite roles include Third Movement Soloist in Lew Christensen’s Sinfonia, Dew Drop Fairy in Butler Ballet’s Nutcracker, and corps de ballet roles in La Bayadere, Serenade, Who Cares?, and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. Carly joined Boulder Ballet in 2017.
Matthew Helms
Matthew Helms began his training in Colorado on full scholarship at the Academy of Classical Ballet, where he danced principal roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle and Le Corsaire. He then studied on full scholarship with Mark and Sandra Carlson and German Zamuel at the International Ballet School where he performed soloist roles in The Nutcracker and Peter Pan. Matthew competed in the 2008 Youth America Grand Prix and the 2008 Denver Ballet Guild Competition where he received a full scholarship to The Ballet West Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah. Matthew has been a guest artist with ballet companies in Utah, California, and Idaho, and for the last three years has performed leading roles in ballets such as The Nutcracker, Paquita, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, and Le Corsaire. He choreographed a contemporary ballet that was premiered in the Ballet West Academy Spring show in 2009. Matthew was promoted to the Ballet West Pre-Professional Trainee Program in 2010 and has trained with artists from American Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, Joffrey Ballet, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Kirov Ballet and David Taylor Dance Theater. Matthew has studied martial arts since age three, has been acting since age four, and has appeared in movies, commercials and TV shows as an actor or a fight choreographer. Matthew joined Boulder Ballet in 2011.
Melissa Heslep
Melissa Heslep received her training at the School of Orlando City Ballet for 13 years under the direction of Beatrix Aldana and spent her summers training with teachers including Luba Gulyaeva, Mark Spivak, Valeria Sinyavakaya, and Veronica Aldana. She performed with the student company until 2001, and upon graduation was accepted into the 2002 Youth America Grand Prix finals in New York City. In Orlando, she performed with Russian Ballet under the direction of Vadim Fedotov and has spent the last five seasons with Central Florida Ballet under the direction of Vasile Petrutiu. She has also had the opportunity to travel as a guest artist for many venues in the United States. Her repertoire includes classics such as The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and The Nutcracker, and contemporary works. Melissa joined Boulder Ballet in 2011.
Phoebe Magna
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Phoebe Magna began her training with The Hartt School Dance Department, formerly the School of the Hartford Ballet, under the direction of Susan Brooker and Miguel Campaneria. In 2010, she continued her studies at the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts under Victoria Mazzarelli, Kirk Peterson, Eleanor D’Antuono, and Tim Melady. After graduation in 2013, Phoebe joined the Colorado Ballet Studio Company for two seasons where she performed in their production of Giselle, Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella, Christopher Wheeldon’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Michael Pink’s Dracula and Colorado Ballet’s The Nutcracker. Phoebe was invited to join City Ballet of San Diego for their 2015/2016 season where she had the opportunity to perform in Mozart’s Requiem, The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Emeralds, and Romeo and Juliet. Phoebe joined Boulder Ballet in 2016.
Philip Perez
Philip Perez was born in Medellín, Colombia and adopted to New York City. At the age of seven he began attending ballet classes at the JKO School of American Ballet Theatre. He continued training there for nine years under Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens. While in New York, Philip danced in numerous ABT productions at The Metropolitan Opera House. In 2010 Alexei Ratmansky cast Philip as the Young Prince in the company’s new production of The Nutcracker; a role he reprised for three years dancing opposite Cornejo, Gomes, Hallberg, and Gorak. Performances were held in New York City and at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center. In 2015 Philip continued his training at Boston Ballet School under Peter Stark and Margaret Tracey. The following season, Philip joined Nashville Ballet II, where he learned and performed many roles including Russian, Grandfather, Swan Lake PDT, “Who Cares?” Four Seasons, Four Temperaments PDD, and Divertimento #15. In 2017, Philip became a member of Colorado Ballet’s Studio Company, where he performed in Dracula, The Nutcracker, and Romeo & Juliet. Philip then joined Boulder Ballet in 2018.
Savannah Lee Apprentice Dancer
Savannah Lee started her professional training with Atlanta Ballet. At the tender age of fourteen and fifteen, she performed with them the company roles of the Shepherdess’s Lamb (Reed Flutes),Snow, and Waltz of the Flowers in the Nutcracker. She has had the honor of working with choreographers such as Micheal Pink, John McFall, Bruce Wells, Brian Reeder and Brian McSween. Savannah has danced many summers with American Ballet Theater, Kirov Ballet Academy, Washington Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, English National Ballet and The Royal Ballet in Covent Garden, London. She performed professionally with Nashville Ballet’s second company, Nomad Contemporary Ballet, Brooklyn Ballet, Portland Ballet, Boulder Ballet, as a freelancer in NYC, and a guest artist in many states. Savannah has a passion for teaching and choreographing, and has done both for Portland Ballet and Boulder Ballet. Additionally she has taught for Simply Circus, Circus Maine and in the Boulder area. Before moving to Boulder she started training aerial hoop on full scholarship with Circus Maine. Savannah still continues to perform both dance and aerial here in Colorado.
Shane Powell Apprentice Dancer
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What Others Say
Dancers at piano in Soireé: Cory Goei, Rania Charalambidou, Danny Mitsios, Melissa Heslip, Kelsey Byrne, Matt Helms, Kate Wagner